HELLO MONDAY…ANXIETY, GETTING RID OF STUFF AND FUN HOLIDAY SURPRISES

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{my friends have no idea I’m posting this.  sorry guys!  you look lovely!}

Whew!  What a weekend!

The Kilgoris Marketplace was a lot of fun and a lot of work.  I loved getting to meet new handmade folks and connecting with other handmade friends.  We ooh and ahh over each other’s work, trade and shop,  give opinions, discuss pricing and strategies, pick each other’s brains for new ideas and make plans to keep collaborating.  And, of course we sold stuff.  It’s what I love to do.

Another sweet highlight was meeting several readers and IG follower friends in person!  Sometimes it’s scary to put your life online and it’s not always clear if it’s worth it (or if anyone is out there) , so if you introduced yourself to me, thank you from the bottom of my heart.  I had to fight tears back a few times.  Grateful to meet you.

And I now I’m trying to recover from it all. 😉

Hello November (!)

Holy crap, where did you come from?!  You, the official start to the holiday season, are also the month of our 10 year anniversary!  I thought we would have some grand trip planned by now, but you have taken us all off guard.  No matter what we do, grand or small, I will celebrate that precious man and he will celebrate me.  Thank you, Lord , for 10 years of sustaining us, sanctifying us and keeping the sweet friendship that started it all, in tact.   So, SO grateful.

Hello laundry and dirty bathrooms

I’m actually looking forward to getting them done after putting them off all last week.  I need order restored and to feel like a normal person again.

Hello Changes

So last week (the last several really) have been revealing.  I can’t put my finger on why yet, but I’m consistently fighting anxiety for the first time in my life.  I can’t calm my mind down and the stress feels crushing sometimes.  Tension headaches, feeling super hot all of a sudden, craving fresh air like I can’t breathe….just panic-y about so many things.  So there are lots of conversations between me and Josh right now about the structure and rhythm of our life and home.  Could you pray for us to have wisdom and discernment on what to change and how?

Goodbye Stuff?

On a related note, I talk a lot on here about our small house and getting rid of stuff.  I think it’s one of the top 5 contributors of my anxiety.  And this question keeps rolling around in my brain, “what if we got rid of half of our stuff?  what would change about our lives?”  That might sound extreme, but I can’t get away from it.  I talked to Josh about it and together, we think that getting rid of at least 30-50% of it would greatly improve our quality of life.  It would have to be ongoing of course, because stuff constantly finds it’s way back in, but I think we would start with a big purge initially.  I’m just not sure how to go about it?  I’ve thought about just tackling it room by room, closet by closet, etc.   Have you ever done anything like this?

And then I read The Vanilla Tulip’s post from Friday and my heart cried such a resounding YES.  This is about much more than just improving our family’s quality of life, isn’t it?  I could go on and on.  I get so passionate about how we live here in America…the stark contrast between us and most of the world.  Our richness.  Our consumption.  Their need.  Time to stop dragging my feet.

Hello deadlines and deals

In a brainstorming session this past week, I’ve settled on my shop’s deadline for Christmas orders (Dec 6th!) and came up with some really fun ways to inspire you to shop early.  I want to help you knock it out with  fun packages that I think you’ll flip for and a few extra incentives that I’ve never tried before.  I feel so great about it and can’t wait to roll the first promo out for you in a couple of weeks!  There are also some new pieces that I hope to get in the shop this week before all the fun begins so be on the look out for that.

It’s your turn, friends!  What are YOU saying hello to this week?

RAMBLING THOUGHTS FROM A QUIET MORNING

As I write, it’s Tuesday.  Probably the most unexciting day of the week, but for me, it’s special.  It’s the one day in my week that I have the house completely to myself for a while.  Husband working, one son at school, the other two at Grammie’s house.  No sounds but the air pouring through the vents and the dryer going.
 
 
I used to run errands on this day, but I try not to now.  I need the quiet more.  I work but while I work, I process, I listen, I think.
 
 
And He talks.
 
 
 

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While I work with my hands, my ears are more open I find.  I think that applies to a lot of different circumstances.  You hear and process a lot when the hands are busy.  That can be a gift and a curse depending on what you choose to listen to and I don’t always choose well.   But lately I’ve turned off the morning shows and chosen to listen to podcasts and favorite authors-turned-keynote speakers.  Good choice, I think.

 
 
 
A few themes and ramble-y thoughts I can’t get away from:

–too much.  have too much.  consume too much.  spend too much.  tired too much.  urgent ruling too much.  important dismissed too much.  too much of things that don’t matter.  This is a theme that comes back to haunt me over and over in my life and I can’t help but think that’s because it needs to.

–them.  those that have too little.  too little food.  too little clothing.  too little safety.  too little family.  too little needs met.  too little noticed.  too little held.  too little loved.   I think about them and it wrecks me inside.  Over and over it does.   Josh and I cry.  We pray.  We ask.   Then the urgent and the stuff come and crowd in again.

–repentance.  more prayers.  more tears.  we’re sorry.  help us.  listening.

–making room.   carving out for quiet with Maker.   shoveling out the too much.   pressing down to stop the hemorrhage.   pressing through to see past the urgent.  pressing in to hear the Sweetest Voice.   pressing out hands to receive His help.
 
 

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Not a lot of knowns and not a landscape view of the future.  But these few steps in front of us?  We know.  We know the first steps of obedience He calls us to take as He kneels in front of us with arms stretched out.  We know He’ll catch us.  We know we’re safe, though the first stepping is always hard.

 
 
And you?  In the quiet with hands that are busy?  What fills your head?   What do you hear?
 
 

Do you see Him knelt down in front of you with arms outstretched?  Do you know that you’re safe?